News

Dairy Farmers Discontented with Hogan's Leadership

10 December 2015

EUROPE - A majority of Dutch dairy farmers have said in a poll that EU agriculture commissioner Phil Hogan should quit, whilst dairy farmers in Germany staged a spontaneous protest as he visited the region.

58 per cent of voters in the poll by Dutch milk producers' site Melkvee.nl agreed with calls from the European Milk Board (EMB) to remove Mr Hogan from office.

At the end of November, the EMB wrote an open letter to the head of the European Commission, demanding Mr Hogan's exit.

In the letter, the Board labelled the commissioner "incompetent" and said that Mr Hogan had a "lack of expertise" in the field of agriculture.

The organisation also accused Mr Hogan of denying the existence of a dairy price crisis.

Of the remaining 40 per cent of producers polled, 20 per cent of those polled think leaving is a step too far but feel that Mr Hogan should do more for the sector. The other 20 per cent think that he should stay.

German EMB member organisation Bundesverband Deutscher Milchviehhalter (BDM) also staged a spontaneous protest on the occasion of Mr Hogan's recent visit to Herrsching in Bavaria.

Around one hundred milk producers went to the protest, saying that Mr Hogan had ignored them in the dairy crisis.